As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know. — Donald Rumsfeld, February 12 , 2002.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Thank You Big Brother For Protecting Me From Crack

Watching CBS's Big Brother Tuesday night there was a segment where houseguest Jen bends over to pick up something and her low-rise jeans slip down to reveal the top part of her butt. At least I suppose that's what happened because a giant blur appeared on the screen just then.

Which leads me to wonder, just what was it there that CBS found offensive? Was it the NBC logo? The word "Fuck" (in the instructive sense)? Or maybe, "Michael Powell is a self-righteous ass?"

No, I don't think it was any of these things. I think it was just Jen's butt. But one can just imagine the flood of angry form letters that all of those housewives would have sent to the FCC after hearing about Jen's butt next day on Oprah. And yes, by the way, I know Michael Powell is no longer the chair of the FCC. His presence endures.

But it occurs to me that there's a double-standard in play here. After all, if showing an ass on TV is obscene, we'd have to blur out half the current administration and nearly all of Congress any time they got on screen. What a bummer for C-SPAN. And let's not even get started on "weather personalities" and their distant cousins, reality-show hosts.

This might give Congress an out, however. They could vote to "censor" Bush instead of censuring him, and I think that would be a much easier vote. The Democratic majority would likely still claim victory. But I digress.

So in any event I thought it fitting to give thanks here to CBS, Big Brother and the FCC for protecting me from Jen's butt. Even a little crack can be wickedly addictive. Or so I've heard.